X2 Mill CNC Conversion

flsteam

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Mar 10, 2011
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Well I finally got it all together and have even used it to make parts to complete the project.
The first change I make was to redesign the Z axis drive. I started with "Hoss" plans and made a few changes that allow me to adjust a nyloc nut for pre-loading the bearings in the
Z drive. Relocating the drive from the side was a major improvement from the CNCFusion kit I bought. You can see the gib screws are now easy to get to and make adjustments.

I did two things to the base as suggested in many other sites and that was to replace the dish
washer with a chunk of 5/8" steel plate and second I added adjustment screws on each side
of the columb to "Fine Tune" vertical tram. Both were great improvements.

Next were the wiring junction boxes made for each stepper. The mill carved out pre-cut 1/2"
aluminum plate and later machined out the cover plates from a sheet of .060" aluminum. You can see the finished products in front view. Each box has a slot milled out of the back on one
end that fits over the rubber gromet in the stepper motor. The box is epoxied on. The cover
sheet I made the cuts from is still mounted on the table where they were cut from.

Finally, I replaced the factory control panel with a much larger NEMA 1 panel. That panel
now houses the original control plus the new power supply and G540 controller. There is
room for relays if I want to start/stop the spindle motor.

John Buckwalter

X2Right.JPG X2Zaxis.JPG X2Base.JPG X2XY.JPG X2Panel.JPG
 
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The X & Y's were a cake walk to convert with the CNCFusion kit. The Z axis was a little different story. I installed the CNCFusion parts that I got with their kit but I was very unhappy with it. First it installed over the top of the gib screws which made it imposible to adjust them without removing the whole thing. Second it put a side load on the head since it was mounted on the left side of the head.

That being said, I set out to find plans for the Z. Hoss machine had pretty much what I wanted so I made a few changes and started making chips. I suffered from a self inflicted headache when I picked up a round of scrap Stainless at my local surplus store to start with. Hard does not even begin to tell the story. I would guess it took me 8 hours and I don't want to tell you how much tooling I destroyed. But I got it made. The rest went much smoother.

A few years back I built a CNC Plasma/Router table so I had the computer and software which made the conversion easy. I have a bridgeport but wanted this for making small parts that have lots of curves so I don't have to set up a rotary table.

In any event I am getting ready to tackle some steel parts. I hope the mill is up to it.

John
 
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The steppers are 280 oz NEMA 23 dual shaft 8 wire. They are wired bipolar series connection. The power supply is 48VDC @ 12.5 amp which drives the Gecko G540 controller. BTW the G540 is perfect in this aplication. I do not have the E-stop wired up yet but I brought it out to a terminal strip in the control panel. Once the mill is mounted on a solid base I will mount and wire the E-stop.

I also have limit switches to install and wire back to the control panel. I am pretty sure that I can drive the speed control directly from the G540 and the start/stop. Which means my Mach 3 will set the correct speed for each tool and of course start/stop at each tool change. So much to do so little time!!

I will take more pic and post later.

John

X2Panelinside.JPG
 
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